Research Resources - July 2012

Summer is halfway gone already!

Where does that time go? For me, with two little ones under the age of 4, each day is a blur. I look forward to when I can start schooling them and establishing a better routine/schedule than playing all day long. Sure, a lot of it is educational play, but it plumb wears me out some days. :)

And for some of us, summer doesn't mean a vacation. It means research and studying and more work.

So, I'm here with these top 5 resources this month. Great for unearthing some fascinating tidbits, or for use if you're ever a contestant on Jeopardy. :) So, grab your cup of coffee, glass of lemonade, or sweet tea, and delve into the resources for this month. Thanks to friends from the 19th Century Writers group and a variety of other sources for these:

Bloomingdale's, Montgomery Ward's, and Sears - links to reprints of these classic 19th century catalogs, from which nearly every general store and mercantile ordered their supplies.

Digital History - Search historical newspapers, read the actual language of US court cases and landmark documents, and so much more!

Eyewitness to History - history through the eyes of those who lived it. Featuring journal and diary entries, newspaper articles, and first-hand reports from centuries of history. Fantastic for getting that accurate feel for reality or nailing down speech patterns, etc.

Food Timeline - Ever wonder how the ancient Romans fed their armies? What the pioneers cooked along the Oregon Trail? Who invented the potato chip...and why? Food history presents a fascinating buffet of popular lore and contradictory facts.

Horses' Gaits - Need information about the way a horse moves? This site provides animation and description for all gaits of a horse, even the fancy ones used in show.

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That's it for this month. As always, feel free to share your own fabulous research sites or resources in the comments. If they're important to you, they're important to us too! We'd love to hear about them. :)

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Tiffany Amber Stockton has been crafting and embellishing stories since childhood. Today, she is an award-winning author, speaker, and virtual assistant, who lives with her husband and fellow author, Stuart Vaughn Stockton, in Colorado. They have one girl and one boy, and two Australian Shepherds, Roxie and Bronco. She has sold eleven books and one novella to Barbour Publishing with more on the horizon. Read more about her at her web site: http://www.amberstockton.com/.